cuz you know that i'm a fighter
by abbyli
Summary: Will is in a car accident weeks before his and Grace's son is due to be born. The whole gang rallies around him in his recovery.


**a/n: Kind of set post series. Grace never went back to Leo and baby Laila does not exist. She and Will finally went through on their plan to have a baby together.**

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The baby's sharp kicking wakes her before the phone rings.

Grace groans, attempting to roll onto her side and failing miserably. The pads around her back had slipped out over the night and she seemed to be stuck. "Will!"

No answer. Hmm. Grace glances at the clock on her bedside table. Ten am. She had been sleeping later in the day and opening the office in mid morning since her pregnancy had gotten further along and Will usually came in to say goodbye before he headed off to work. But this morning he was off so…

" _Will!"_

Still no answer.

Grace manages to reach her phone sitting on the bedside and shoots off a quick text to Will and then to Jack. A few minutes later, she hears the front door open. Jack finds her wriggling like a bug flipped over on the bed and starts to laugh.

"Well aren't you cute?"

She growls. "Help me!"

Jack grabs her hands, bracing his feet on the floor and pulls her up with a grunt. "You okay?"

She doesn't answer, quickly waddling past him in her make for the bathroom. She hadn't realized it until she was on her feet that the baby was happily stomping away on her bladder.

When she comes out a few minutes later, praising the gods above that Will had installed the safety bar in the bathroom, Jack is still in the kitchen poking around in the fridge. No sign of Will anywhere. "Thanks for helping me, Jack."

"No problem, Grace. Can I make you something?"

Grace claps her hands together. "Oooh yes. Eggs and French toast?"

"How about lose the French?" Jack replies.

She agrees and sinks down onto the couch in the entertainment nook and flips the television on. The news is going and the anchor yaks about something going on in China for a moment before it switches over to the local news.

" _This just in, a pedestrian has been hit by a taxi cab on Third Avenue."_

Oh. Ew. That's awful. Grace glances out of the corner of her eye at Jack as he continues to scramble what looks like a mountain of eggs. Will's going to have to pick up a new carton on his way home. Wherever he went.

" _The pedestrian is in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital and has just been identified as William Truman."_

What?

She had to have heard that wrong.

Grace's eyes stare at the screen as Will's identification picture flashes across the screen.

No. No, no, no.

Grace shouts out Jack's name, startling him so much he throws the eggs in the air and they land around him like little yellow mushy snowflakes. "What happened?"

She points to the television, her hand trembling. Before the words can leave her mouth, the phone rings and they both turn to stare at it. Jack picks it up and listens for a moment. When she sees the look of horror cross his face, she knows that this isn't some horrible dream.

-;

Karen's already there in the waiting room when they arrive.

"How did you get here so fast?" Grace asks, her hands wrapped around her large stomach.

"As soon as I saw it on the news Driver brought me over," she says. She leans down to pick up a capped cup of coffee and passes it to her. "Decaf vanilla, right?"

Grace takes it but doesn't drink. Jack winds up having to take the cup back from her, her hands shaking so hard that the cup nearly goes flying. "Have you heard anything, Karen?"

"The doctor was out about twenty minutes ago. He told me that the main concern is his back. Something about his spinal cord swelling."

Grace's eyes widen. "That means he won't be able to _walk."_

"We don't know that yet, honey," Karen assures her.

"I'm going to try and get some more information. One of you should call his mom?" Jack says.

"I'll do that," Karen replies. She points to a hard plastic chair. "You sit. You don't need to be on your feet."

Whatever Grace tries to argue falls on deaf ears. Karen pulls out her cell phone and begins angrily punching buttons, the only hint of emotion is by the very tip of her finger beginning to shake.

Jack returns as Karen hangs up the phone a few minutes later. "…goodbye Mrs. Truman. See you soon." The phone goes back in her bag. "She's on her way. What about the brothers? What are their names? Stinky and Winky?"

"Sam and Paul," Grace hisses through clenched teeth. It suddenly occurs to her that her jaw is aching, her teeth grinding so hard she could crack a tooth.

"The doctor is on his way out. I think Will's going into surgery soon to relieve the swelling on his spine," Jack says, taking the seat on the other side of Grace. "How are you feeling?"

"Me?" Grace repeats. "I'm fine. Just dandy."

Jack gently pats her knee. "Take it easy, Grace."

Before she can retort a snippy comment, a man in blue scrubs suddenly appears.

"Family for Will Truman?"

Karen helps her to her feet as Jack darts from his chair with the speed of a gazelle.

"Are you family?" the doctor asks.

"We're friends. I'm his roommate and his emergency contact," Grace says.

The doctor nods. "Okay, um – Mr. Truman's being taken up to surgery right now. He's still unconscious, he has a minor concussion but no sign of an closed head injury. The main concern is his back. The car hit him at an angle so there is a lot of swelling and we need to get in there to relieve it. He has three broken ribs and his lung collapsed when he was brought in but we reinflated it."

Karen gasps softly, grasping Grace's hand. Hot tears sting her eyes that she blinks away. "Is he…is he going to be okay?"

The doctor gives her a look that she does not like. "It's pretty touch and go right now. He's stable but still critical, do you understand?"

Jack's the one to answer. "We understand."

"Can we see him?"

The doctor shakes his head. "He's already heading upstairs. The OR is on the fifth floor and there's a waiting room up there that's more comfortable than the one we have here in the ER." His eyes cut to Grace's stomach. "Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, how far away are you from your due date?"

"Oh! Uh, six weeks," she replies.

"Make sure you take it easy and have someone take you home to rest," the doctor says. "This is going to be a long wait."

They leave then, heading to the elevators with their arms linked together. Grace is sure she's going to fall to the floor put Karen and Jack keep her upright.

The baby wriggles around, giving her a nervous nudge. The little one can sense the tension, she's sure of it.

They get to the right floor and Karen trots ahead to find the nurses' station while Jack steers her to a waiting area that does look a lot more comfortable than the one downstairs. She grabs Jack's hand before he can pull away, giving his arm a yank so his head is next to hers. "What if he doesn't make it?"

Jack shakes his head but she can see the fear in his eyes. "Don't even think it, okay? _Don't."_

-;

Marilyn Truman arrives exactly two hours in. Karen gives her the report of what they know and then Grace watches her best friend's mother immediately snap into what Will called 'Mom action', offering to head down to the cafeteria for food and drinks. She doesn't have much of an appetite right now – shocker – but she knows the baby needs to eat so she agrees to a sandwich and decaf tea.

Jack doesn't get anything and Karen asks for a refill of her hidden bottle of vodka. Grace sees Marilyn throw the small bottle into the trash as she walks for the elevators again.

The surgery was supposed to take six hours according to the nurse. Then another hour or so to repair other damage from the accident. Hour four Grace is ready to climb the walls and she can barely move and she isn't sure what drives her even more crazy.

The doctor appears on hour five.

A woman this time, a small one with curly hair that is falling out from underneath her cap. "Family for Will Truman?"

Marilyn leaps from her chair, waving her hand. "I'm his mother."

"Mrs. Truman, I'm Dr. Benson. I've been repairing the damage to your son's spine and so far, everything is going quite well." The doctor launches into a long winded medical explanation and Grace can see Karen's eyes glazing over. "…my associate Dr. Kawolski is in there right now. It's going to be about another hour before your son is in recovery and then you can see him, all right?"

"All right, thank you."

The doctor leaves and that's when Marilyn lets out the smallest of sobs. Jack reaches over to hug her gently and she gladly accepts it.

"You okay, honey?" Karen asks.

Marilyn nods. "I will be. It's good to know he's going to be all right. This is just so soon after George."

"Understandable," Grace says. "Will's a fighter."

"He's been a fighter since the day he was born. Did I ever tell you lot that he was actually premature?"

They sit again and Grace sits beside Marilyn this time, the older woman's hand clutched in both of hers. She listens, a tired smile on her face as Marilyn talks about the day that Will was born, four weeks before his due date. "He was a tiny little thing and was screaming before he was all the way out. His face was all squished up like this," Marilyn imitates a baby's expression and the rest of them laugh.

-;

Hour eight, Jack is ready to drop. He wanders away from the waiting room to stretch his legs and ends up at a chapel of all places.

He snickers as he gazes around the small room. This is not the place someone like him would be welcome in.

He enters anyway.

Jack's eyes dart to the small podium where a golden cross sits. He approaches it like the cross is going to leap off and bite him, turning his head up to look through the lone window. The late afternoon sun shines through, creating a rectangle of warmth on the floor.

"I don't even believe, why am I here?" he mumbles softly. He turns to leave. Something stops him. "It had to be Will huh? It couldn't have been me?"

Tears gather behind his eyes and he blinks hard.

"Will's _good_. He's kind and caring and compassionate and puts up with someone like me when he doesn't have too."

One tear does escape and he angrily wipes it away.

"Let him be okay. Don't do this to him. He doesn't _deserve it –"_

"Jack!" Karen's at the doorway, waving to him. "They're letting us see Will, come on!"

The prayer forgotten, he follows.

-;

Marilyn Truman gazes down at her son's sleeping form. A nasal cannula is tucked into his nostrils and there are about a thousand wires all over his body. The doctor had let her in first, telling the others to wait and go in one at a time.

The doctor had said Will's ability to walk might be gone for good. "We will have to see once the rest of the swelling has gone down. There's still pressure that has to resolve itself on its own."

Marilyn sighs, gently brushing her fingers through Will's shorn hair. "Hello darling."

His eyelashes begin to flutter. Her heartbeat quickens and she waits, smiling as Will's eyes open fully. "Don't try to talk. Your lip is the size of Arkansas."

Bruises litter her son's face, a large laceration is on his forehead with a couple of stitches in it. Three fingers on his right hand are braced together and there's a bandage around his upper arm.

Will blinks, a small moan of pain escaping his mouth. "What…happened?"

"A car accident. A pretty bad one," Marilyn admits. "But you're okay. You're going to be just fine."

Will licks his lips, eyes still glazed with anesthesia. "Where's…Grace? I d-don't r-remember anything."

"Grace wasn't there, Will. She's out in the waiting room. She and the baby are fine. You need to rest, all right?"

She winces when Will tries to nod. She watches with horror when a sudden realization settles into her son's face. "Mom…why can't I f-feel m-my legs?"

-;

Two weeks pass.

Grace glares at the wheelchair like it personally offended her. The baby gives a mighty kick, causing her to gasp. She rubs her hand over her stomach. "Take it easy in there."

 _Tap, tap._

"Yeah, yeah I hear ya. I'm hungry too."

The front door opens and Jack charges in. "I'm here with my gorgeous self!"

Since Will had gotten out of the hospital and come home, Jack had eased back into his old self around her and Karen but he was still quite careful around Will. She could tell it annoyed the bejesus out of Will but he wasn't saying anything. Not yet at least.

"Hey Jack."

"Are you going by yourself to your last appointment?" Jack asks her and Grace nods.

"I have a cab waiting for me downstairs, I just didn't want to leave until you got here. Will's still in bed. His mom's back at her hotel getting some rest so if you need anything –"

Jack nods. "Got it. You go to the doctor."

"Thanks Jack." She grabs up her wallet and her jacket, heading out the door to the elevator. The cab takes her to the doctor's office where she's brought right in and her vitals are taken by the nurse.

Her OBGYN, Dr. Clearwater comes in just as she's getting settled back onto the table, the hospital gown stretched over her large stomach. "Hey Grace. How are you feeling?"

"Not bad," she easily lies. "A little tired." An understatement.

The first five nights had been the worst. Will had been in agony for the first three and the painkillers were just not cutting into it. He had had his first angry outburst on the fourth night when his leg had gotten stuck on the lower bar of his wheelchair and he hadn't felt it until Marilyn had had to detangle his leg for him.

She was ashamed to admit she had ran and hid when Will started to shout.

Clearwater looks over her chart, eyebrows raising at a few points. "Well this concerns me. Are you taking your vitamins and drinking lots of water?"

"Uh, yeah? Why? What's concerning?"

"Your white count is down. Almost like you are working on…anemia?" Clearwater fixes her with a steely-eyed gaze. "What's going on, Grace? You were in the peak of health up until two weeks ago."

Grace winces, wondering if she should just lie.

She doesn't.

Once she's done talking, tears are streaming down her face. Clearwater quickly passes her a box of tissues and places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "All right, all right, take some deep breathes." She does as she's told, sucking in air through her nose and mouth as deep as she can without choking and coughing. "I am so sorry for what's happening to you and Will. But Grace, you need to think about the baby right now. Your little boy is doing fine right now but – oh shit, I hadn't asked if you wanted to know the sex."

Grace laughs aloud. "It's a boy?"

Clearwater nods. "It's a boy. Congratulations."

And suddenly, everything feels all right in the world even though it's definitely not.

-;

She nearly slams into the front door in her haste to get through, almost running smack into Jack. "Jack!"

"Jennifer Love Hewitt you scared me!"

Grace laughs and dives into his arms. "Oh Jack it's so wonderful!"

"What is wonderful little mama?" Jack asks, his arms draping around her shoulders.

"Will and I are having a boy!"

Jack beams and presses a smacking kiss to her forehead. "That is wonderful! A little Jack will be running around here pretty soon."

Grace smiles, gently pulling away. "We'll talk about that. Where's Will?" A shadow crosses Jack's face. "Jack? What happened?"

Her friend swallows heavily. "Will's mom came back and we tried to get him out of bed."

"And?"

"When he refused…well it got nasty. Marilyn left. She's going back to Connecticut."

"She left?!"

Jack nods. "Will told her too and I think Marilyn was really hurt."

Grace sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'll call her later and made sure she's okay. Uh, will you stay for a little longer?"

Jack nods and Grace heads down the hall. She raps on Will's door with her knuckles, hearing a soft grunt as her answer before entering.

Will sits up in bed, the blankets pushed halfway down his knees and a dazed expression on his face. Grace bites her lip. "Oh Will."

"Don't 'oh Will' me," he snaps angrily.

"What were you trying to do?" Grace asks.

"I had too –" His face flushes red. "I had to take a piss. And I –"

Grace nods. "Jack and I will take care of it."

"Grace – don't! I don't need you all to take care of me like I am some invalid child."

"So I'm supposed to just let you sit there in a puddle of urine?" Grace replies, her voice low. "And then what, Will? Are you going to try and chase Jack and me away?"

"That's _not –"_

Grace leans around the doorframe. "Jack!"

He walks up and with one look understands.

Will falls into a sullen silence as they help him from the bed and into an armchair. Grace strips the bed of its sheets and stuffs them into a bag while Jack helps Will into the bathroom. She walks out to the living room to set the bag by the door to take down to the laundry room, stopped only when she hears a soft cry.

She pushes the door to the bathroom open. The water is running and she can see Jack's teeshirt, soaked through as he bends over the bathtub. Her heart cracks in her chest. Jack's arms gently wrap around Will's shoulders, holding him as he finally begins to shake with sobs.

-;

"I'm sorry about before."

Grace grabs his hand and holds it in both of hers. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Will shakes his head. "I've been awful for the last week and a half. How you all didn't wanna kill me I'll never know."

Grace rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything else. She curls down into Will's side and his hand rests against her stomach. "I went to the doctor today."

Will curses softly under his breath. "I forgot about that."

"Hey you'll take the kid to the first year of baby appointments."

He chuckles. "How'd it go?"

"Good. I'm a little anemic but the baby's doing very well. Clearwater said it could be within the next two to three weeks. My luck he'll be two weeks later."

"Wait a minute –" Will holds up a hand. "You keep saying 'he'. Did you -?"

Grace nods, smiling. "Yeah. It's a boy, Will. We're having a son." She giggles at the shock on Will's face, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "I left the sonogram picture out in the living room, dammit."

Will stops her when she tries to stand. "It's okay, Gracie. Get it later."

Grace blinks away the tears in her eyes, and these ones are happy ones. Finally. Will's hand slides over her stomach again and she holds it there with her own, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder again.

"We're here, Will. All of us. We're not going anywhere."

He lets out a shaky breath, silent for what seems like forever. And then…

"I am so scared, Grace. What if this –" he gestures to his blanket covered legs. "What if this is permanent?"

Grace shakes her head. "It won't be. And if it is –" She sits up. " – then we will find a way to deal. You don't have to do this alone. Me, Jack, and Karen will be here through it all. And so will this little guy," she adds with a tap to her stomach. "We need to talk about names, remember?"

Will manages a smile. "Jack wants a namesake doesn't he?"

Laughing, she nods. "Yeah." She rests her hand on top of his. "We're going to be okay."

.

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 **Part 2 coming soon. If anyone is there, do drop a review in the box below.**


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